Chinese passenger automotive market in April

With the number of new automobile models continuing to grow, China’s consumers have an increasingly wider selection of choices to pick from. As a result, sales have continued to grow. According to statistics compiled by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 1.57 million passenger automobiles were sold domestically in April. That figure represents positive year-on-year sales growth of 5.7%, slightly less than growth rates of the previous three months.

Models made by domestic own brand manufacturers accounted for 580,696 units sold in the Chinese passenger automotive market. The figure represents year-on-year growth of 37%, a rate that is far higher than those of foreign brands. Own brands’ stake in the market has increased from 31.8% to 37.0%. A major part of these sales have come from the SUV segment.

However, the large number of domestic automotive brands means that the sales figures of individual brands are very low. Changan was the month’s best performing domestic automotive brand, followed by Wuling, Haval, Geely, Chery, BYD, Baojun, JAC, Dongfeng Fengxing and BAIC. The combined sales volume of the above manufacturers totaled 397,200 units, constituting 68.4% of all own brand automobile sales. Changan’s monthly sales totaled 74,300 units, up 40.4% from the previous year. The Wuling and Great Wall’s Haval brands’ sales totaled 57,100 units and 56,200 units, respectively. Furthermore, both Baojun and JAC achieved respectable results thanks to the strong sales performances of the Baojun 730 and Refine S3, respectively.

Meanwhile, monthly sales of German, Japanese, American and Korean brands respectively totaled 310,874 units, 275,859 units, 180875 units and 146,294 units.

German brands, represented primarily by VW, Audi, Skoda, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, saw their combined sales fall 9.6% this April. Leader VW’s monthly sales totaled 207,900 units, down 14.5% from last year. Sales of many major models have all fallen, with sales of the Santana, Sagitar, Lavida and Passat all decreasing over 10%.

Japanese models saw their sales grow 6.4% in April, slightly above the market average growth rate. However, Japanese brands’ market share still hovers at 17.6%, far less than the plus 20% rates from a few years ago. Two of the major Japanese brands, Toyota and Honda, experienced positive year-on-year sales growth of 13.1% and 38.8%, while the other one, Nissan, saw its sales fall by 18.3%.

American brands saw their sales fall 8.7%, with sales of the Buick and Chevrolet brands falling 10.5% and 25.8%, respectively. However, fellow brand Ford experienced positive sales growth of 7.5% to become the best-performing American brand in the Chinese passenger automotive market.

Korean automotive brands sales grew slightly by 2.5%, with sales of leading brands Hyundai and Kia increasing 0.8% and 8.4%, respectively.